Opportunity & Inspiration: The Return of Audacious Living

Daily living can become monotonous. Worse, our daily life can become debilitating, lacking sources of inspiration and clouding over the opportunities of living. Breaking from the monotony cycles is necessary, even daily. However, if our monotony cycle has been running steadily, we sometimes need a hard break to shake loose our mind and open up to inspiration and opportunity once again.

Returning from such a hard break can be jarring. Our energy is actively percolating, our mind is aware, our heart is open. We find ourselves fighting the monotony cycles of nearly everyone around us. Initially, we see the opportunities and the inspirations in each experience, in each human being. We wish to open these fellow beings to living life once again. Yet, often the response is non-existent; worse, the response is to shut us down.

Having patience and understanding for others is necessary. Recall how we, ourselves, had to be brought back to life by flying to the other coast or running into the woods.

We are now the open flame of the audacity of active being. We don’t have to open others up similarly, and we can certainly understand the veils draping across the life of others.

It is traumatic to have someone else lift that veil. Letting go of the opportunities and inspiration of others is difficult. It is necessary to keep our audacity flame alive in our daily life, and, keeping that flame lit is crucial for allowing others to lift their own monotony veil on their own terms, not ours.

Our audacity of living flame has always been lit.
The audacity of living flame is alive in everyone.
Conditions and people have no effect on the flame itself.
Only our own mind can obscure the brilliant, inspiring light of living.
Only our own mind can find the opportunity and the inspiration in everyone and everything.

New Year's Motivation

It was just as 2011's last day begun that I sat, the most inspired in my entire existence.
It is now that I set out to change the world.

Regardless of intention or action, thought or feeling, I change the world simply by breathing.

Imagine infusing that vital breath with intention for the well being of all and the action of our best efforts.
We can learn on our shared journey.

All our thoughts and feelings can be focused toward the good will and well being of all.
We can grow on our shared journey.

We all change the world.
Give that change impetus.
Give it momentum.
Give it your life.

The Responsibility in Not

“I may have lost a month, but I do not have to lose another.”
Taking responsibility can be helpful, destructive or meaningless. Intentions and actions are critical fuels for taking responsibility. Often, we consider only actions with regard to our responsibilities in life. The role of inaction in our lives and the lives of others in our community takes a far greater toll and is a far heavier weight than most realize.

It is through inaction that abusive situations are allowed to fester and infect the community. It is through inaction that beneficial energies are never collected and spread to those in need. It is through inaction that distances us from doing anything with this extraordinary opportunity called life and living.

Truly, the worthiness of life is dictated by what we do not choose to do. Our capacity and worth are limitless qualities. The only limits we place on that capacity are self-constructed. By not doing anything, we save ourselves from culpability by others. This does not save us from the responsibility from doing nothing; it only saves us from risking what we have, risking the comfortable conditions we may feel we must have and risking being mistaken or seen as not perfect.

Any bit of comfort and security we enjoy are illusory. None of it is substantial or lasting. Resting in this state creates a logjam in the river of potential and possibility. The comfort and security we so wish to hold onto with all that we do and don’t do makes freedom and joy less likely to develop, and not only just for ourselves but for others as well.

Risk and responsibility are connected.

It is a risk to explore what stymies me.
It is a risk to do so with open heart and open mind.
It is a risk to let go of not doing anything.
It is my responsibility to see this through.

The Internal Waters of Thinking of You

We all think about others. There are countless impressions we have when we think of people and things. These impressions are a heterogeneous mixture of mental images and emotional sensations with bits of memory and stage direction scattered and connected throughout. It’s a big mash up made entirely by our mind.

If we let go of the bits of memory and dismantle the stage directives, it frees up that mental/emotional framework for exploration. It is all the holding on and having it our way activities that block joy and happiness that are in that mash of stuff called our life. Clearing and halting all of those activities present many obstacles, but in each obstacle is an extraordinary opportunity, the opportunity to do something entirely different.

Each obstacle we encounter is mostly of our own creation. Whatever it is that we’re feeling and thinking at this moment comes about naturally. It falls apart naturally as well. What clouds and muddles this process is our memories of before and our hopes and fears moving forward.

We rarely achieve a clear view of our present thoughts and emotions in the moment. In fact, it can be extremely overwhelming to begin to explore either, especially considering the longevity of our ignorance of this inner universe. This is why patience is a cornerstone to progress toward a new way. These uncharted waters have been with us in every moment of our existence. What we have done and not done have accumulated much in these uncharted internal waters for at least our entire life.

Consider the oceans at large we were born into, namely our families, our communities, our country and our world: the accumulated bits of everything and everybody that have been since when. Almost everything that is here and now has been here for a very long time. From this world of stagnation, opportunity for liberation is plentiful, even omnipresent. If we can unclutter the mental and emotional reservoirs, we can begin the journey of reunification.

For the majority of our lives, we have felt set apart from all that we see and experience. Plentiful have been the moments where separation seemed clear and apparent. Rarely, have we thoroughly challenged that clear and apparent nature of life, that somehow we’re separated from all else. Considering the constant flux of matter and energy into and out of this body and this mind, how could we ever have believed we were separate and somehow singled out from the rest?

Letting go of memory isn’t forgetting the past; it is letting go of our limited version of it. Our mistakenness of our real nature has poisoned our well of memories. We must release these memories from the consistent control we wish to wield on others as well as our self.

All of our machinations of tomorrow must be released. All that makes up tomorrow is present here and now. As much as we do not desire external control, we must not direct control outward. These machinations are movies and stories we contrive.

Constantly, we are holding casting calls, building and deconstructing stages and set designs. Our plans for the future are both elaborate and subtle in the ways we seek to control others and the conditions we find ourselves within today.

Search your thoughts. Search your feelings.

Are the people you think and feel about real or imagined? Certainly, people are living lives all over this planet. But are the thoughts and feelings about these actual people accurate and reflective of the life that each has led? Just like us, each person has their own sets of thoughts and feelings. Are those sets of sensations in our thoughts and feelings about those people, or do we just have impressions of people, impressions that are not based in reality whatsoever?

Challenge your thoughts. Challenge your feelings.

These thoughts and feelings ebb and flow, come about and fall apart continuously, one after another after another. With minimal challenging, we can discover the true nature of both. Thoughts and feelings come out of our mind like a natural spring.

Imagine if we let that natural spring flow free.

The Daily Living Explorer

For years, I've been exploring new ways of living, with limited means and extraordinary methods. After much consideration, it seemed the proper moment to expand this exploration from a hands-on and on-my-own journey into an ever expanding continuously regenerating opportunity for better living.

This written journey will be called The Daily Living Explorer

Perhaps, through a sharing of my explorations, others can begin their own exploration of their own life.

Infuse your life with Joy. Refuse to take your life any other way.

Making Action With Awareness

Making decisions is a critical part of our lives. Our role as decision-maker affects our existence as well as the existence of everyone else, if we’re aware of it or not.

Mostly, the decisions we make are fairly simple, like what to eat and where to go. At times, we feel compelled to make a difficult decision with predictable, direct and immediate consequences. When we make those difficult decisions, we should avoid resisting those results.

This is similar to eating something we know is going to have a physiological cost, and instead of just enjoying it, we fret about the unfortunate side of the equation. It makes no sense.

In the aftermath of decisive moments, we should avoid resistance to what we opted for through making a tough but necessary call. If we’re focused on the pain and suffering of what we opted for, we cannot freely experience joy or relief. We also leave ourselves ill-prepared for the potential and probable slate of unintended consequences to difficult action.

Resisting consequences extends the damage and the longevity of these in our daily life. Also, it leaves us ill-prepared for the potential and probable slate of unintended consequences to the initial action. Do not allow the slew of ramifications to dissuade us from action. The consequences of acquiescence and inaction have its own slate of pain and suffering.

Finding the best balance of action, inaction and the contemplation of both is a struggle in every day. Conditions change constantly, as the ebb and flow from one moment to the next is never ending. The only avenue toward resolution is our awareness in this moment, not with disregard to the past, but with absolute regard to right now.

We must strive to keep our awareness completely open and unrestrained by the fantasies of our future and the illusions of yesterday.

Let go of yesterday. Leave behind tomorrow. Remain aware in this moment. Act from awareness this day.

Considering Daily Living Differently

Our actions and behaviors in our daily life are usually ignored as a source of change. Instead, we use our minds to create intricate and complex dreams and nightmares, not only of the future but of our past as well. Constantly, we are book-shelving this day with a future that doesn’t exist and a past that no longer does.

If that reality is too unbelievable, we can still gain much by considering our daily living differently.

It is simple to make transformative change as we do not have to obliterate our dreams of our future or our memories of yesterday in order to create change this day. We simply need to focus on what we do every day.

We have been led to believe so much that may or may not be true. The truth is that there are countless options of what we could do every day.

From the way we wake up, to the way we rest and sleep. From the way we eat, to the way we get rid of what we eat. From what brings us relief, to what drains our resources. Each of these options plays a critical role in what we can do and how we can do it. Yet, we apply minimal mental resources to these day-to-day operations.

Every single day, we’re missing countless opportunities to increase our capacity by decreasing inefficient and ineffective habits and activities. We all need to eat, but what we eat and what we don’t eat has a direct impact on how we feel and how we think.

Food allergies are a perfect example of this. If you have an allergy to some ingredient in what you are eating, it can completely diminish physical and mental resources by creating both immediate and long-term consequences.

Our daily life may be filled with many of these life-allergens that we choose without even realizing we’re making a choice. Each step we take in our day has significance, if we believe it or not. We could not get to work if not for each and every step taken thus far. It could be that we’re taking too many steps when less would do. The only way to discover better ways is to attempt something different.

There are many different paths to the same place. Say we’re in Los Angeles and we want to go to New York City. There are many ways to make that happen; some make sense, some are ridiculous.

We could fly non-stop directly to our destination. Or, we could go the exact opposite direction and fly the other way around the world and get to the same place. The end of the journey is the same, yet the journey itself is completely different. One is certainly much more efficient than the other, unless you need to pick up some rare Chinese herb in Hong Kong that you can get nowhere else.

Take one aspect of your daily life today and challenge how you approach that aspect.
Initially, become familiar with the choices you take regarding that aspect.
Then, note all the streams leading into that choice and all the consequences that lead from it.
Consider changes, contemplate potential outcomes, witness direct impact.

Begin to access your personal power right here, right now.

The Joy-Spring

The relative stability of our American society remains intact, allowing for the continued exploration of our beautiful world and our beautiful life. Remarkable, the serenity this exploration can impart on us, if we only allow the joy within to sprout and take root in daily life. The opportunities for joy are as plentiful as our willingness to explore this world and ourselves.

Increasingly, the joy in our hearts seems offensive to the sensibilities of others. Joy is a natural spring, refreshing us when allowed to flow freely, suffocating us when interrupted and blocked. It is the joy in our self and in others that we must stand up and protect.

It appears as if the wellspring of joy runs dry for many, but the spring will flow again with a light touch from care, attention and the power of awareness. With increasing distractions from technology and the quickening disintegration of our ways of living, we need this joy-spring more than ever.

Clear View, Clear Action

We all face difficulty. Simultaneously, we can feel completely alone in our struggle through that difficulty. Yet, we’re not alone, we only feel alone. That feeling of aloneness may originate from the broken ways we all communicate with each other. And, listening plays a huge role in that communication; what we say after listening can transform the dynamic between people.

The concern, then, is in continuing to listen after we speak. We easily become caught up in our own response and lose sight of what the other person says next. It is very easy to lose our clear vision, and once we lose that clear vision, we have lost the ability for clear action.

There are so many tactics and strategies that people use consistently and constantly that cloud clear vision with raw emotion. Our emotions and feelings are our own, yet we give people carrots and sticks to manipulate those emotions.

It’s not that these people use those carrots and sticks maliciously. Simply, they, like us, want to be free of pain and free of suffering. They feel, mistakenly, that if they have it their way, the pain and suffering will simply disappear. Over most of their life, they’ve learned how to poke and prod people with these carrots and sticks, and still, they hurt and suffer. Possibly, there never has been due consideration of the effectiveness of this strategy.

Remember In our youth, the carrots from others were few and the sticks were many. This is why bullying is ever-present today. There are multitudes of ways in which to wield and throw those sticks now. Not only do we have our mouth, we also have the web and texting.

This reminds me of the evolution of our species. We used rocks and sticks as cavemen. As humanity evolved, we began to use these as tools, less as weapons. We learned to grow those carrots, not just eat them.

There are parallels to our growing up and becoming adults. We don’t just eat the carrots we’re given; we grow carrots and give them away now. That’s having a clear vision and seeing it through to clear action: preparing the field, planting a crop, tending the crop, picking the product, protecting the product, and everyday tending of the field: clear vision through to sustained clear action.

Between the clear vision and the clear action are so many steps, as this analogy clearly shows. The field is our life, the crops are the ideas we allow in our lives, and the product is our action. Our action is what grows out of how well we’ve taken care of our life and the ideas that we plant and nourish there. Our action can be planted by others or by only ourselves.

What people do with our ideas is primarily up to others and the states of their lives. Some people are currently in a state where the field that is their life has been poisoned and drained of nutrients. That’s why any good idea must be accompanied with nourishment. Otherwise, the idea may never grow anywhere but in our own field.

We must tend to the fields that surround us for two major reasons: others’ sake and our sake. How is it that the community our life is surrounded by affects our field? Run-off. Run-off from the poisons in their fields drains into ours; their poisons are our poisons.

We can counteract these by constantly taking care of ourselves and consistently nourishing all of our life. Also, the atmosphere, the air around us, is almost impossible to clean up on our own, yet it runs right over, around and through us. It has never made more sense why some people choose the life of a hermit.

As we take care of ourselves and nourish our spirit, we gain clear vision. We’re ready to plant what we want to grow. We must keep in mind that it may take many growing seasons to not only prepare our field but many seasons to produce the completely clear action that others would be willing to take into their life. Tend to your fields and to your communities with joy, compassion and patience. Those are universal nourishments that clear the air, clean the soil and ready us for action.

The journey from clear vision to clear action isn’t as simple as some fancy phrase. The journey is what we are; the action is what we make of what we are. The journey is just beginning.

Dissecting Loneliness, Exposing Love

I feel scared when I find myself wanting interaction but not wishing to inject myself into a situation to create that interaction. We find ourselves confused, disoriented at times in these situations. When we feel in this way, we dissect the confusion and clear away our unhealthy attachments, exposing the real love that lie beneath that attachment.

When you love someone, truly love someone, you're willing to let go of anything, including that someone, and all for that person's own benefit. The love persists, as you wish only happiness and joy; the good feeling persists, yet we know we must walk away and not insist on anything more or less.

This leaves us to fend for our own emotional selves. It is our emotions, after all, that are at the core of everything we feel, not at the love we have for others. No one can make us feel anything.

Yet, we feel alone at times; always to be the lone voice of reason, always to be and do better than we feel we really are. In those less than moments, we need to listen to our own voice of reason and we need to do the better thing for ourselves. That's how we take care of our loneliness, by taking care of ourselves.

The love we feel for people never wavers if it is true love. True love has nothing to do with what happens to us and for us. Love is about the genuine wish for someone to be happy and to experience joy. We deserve those for ourself as well; only we can deliver those into our daily life.

Adversity: The Hallmark of Human Life

Adversity is the hallmark of a good life.

When situations don't follow your predictions, we can become upset with the outcomes or we can work with the outcomes. Any emotion that we feel about what is happening to us is a powerful energy. When we realize our role in what's happening, we can begin to take care of that energy, and redirect it towards the reality rather than our fairy tale that didn't happen to follow the script we developed in our heads.

Mostly, we would like to absolve ourselves of any responsibility when things go awry. "It cannot possibly be myself that has created this present moment, this terrible moment." Some people feel terrible about the terrible experiences we endure. If feeling terrible about it works to correct the situation, then by every means feel terrible about it all the time. If feeling awful about our life is worthwhile, than it should be worthwhile all the time, right? If that does not seem to solve our present day dilemma, we could consider another option.

Focusing on what works involves believing in the experience of what we're doing in our momentary life. Attempt many different avenues at overcoming daily obstacles. Believe in what you're doing. The outcomes will speak towards the intention and action we've applied. If we really believe that feeling terrible works for a better today, then believe that and make that terrible feeling your daily experience.

What we do with what happens to us is all about belief and faith. Faith that we can see ourselves through whatever may come. Our belief is to continue to apply ourselves to what's happening and that at some point we will stumble onto relief. Either, the frustration will end artificially or it will end by our own hand.

It really does not matter which way we live our lives; the outcome is always the same. Then, the real long-term strategy is about how we experience our daily life. If at the end it's death, than damn well I should be believing in what I'm doing today; that what I do today is as good as I can muster; that we will strive for excellence and expect nothing in return.

Keep at it and have a direct experience with your life. Let the outcomes wash over you and assist in matching our intention with our action. Enjoy this.

Every Day is the Same Day

As the sun rises on this, my last morning, I feel renewed optimism of what I can do for others, how I can manage my issues to make that effort increasingly effective and more efficient.

Everyday is the same day, but every day can be a new effort, a new goal, a new belief. We just have to apply this effort joyously, reach for a goal effortlessly and believe that we can make this life work for the benefit of all.

Bless you, Bless this land, Bless this community.
From every sunrise, through every sunset and into the night.

Returning to the Seat of Joy

7.5
Don't you see how one by one
Death comes to claim your fellow men?
And yet you slumber on so soundly,
Like a buffalo beside its butcher
--Shantideva
No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva, Pema Chodron

We feel as if the universe has been screaming at us because we have wasted so much of this blessed opportunity that we call our life. Despite our countless misteps, we remain here and still maintain the capacity to be effectively meaningful. Yet, we have no lasting momentum in this enterprise. A few consecutive moments, here and there, with a great void in-between.

What we desire to do is to consistently and always truly see others. Not what they're saying or doing or even how they feel, but what is covered up by all those words, acts and feelings. It has been a continuous struggle of late to truly listen to anyone, especially ourselves. Today, we may have seen a small bit of progress. It was the state of joy we've kept with us since waking up that was the difference-maker.

At least we're struggling to do this, right? We still have a will to work against the common nuisance that is our life. Isn't that the proper answer to the frustrations of our day?

I'm beginning to disagree. We must learn to let go of this struggle and work with what we're given in this very moment, instead of trying to make life look or feel different than the reality that it is. The way it appears will change, just as the way we feel about it will change. There's no stopping the constant flux of thoughts and emotions, so we must move out of this fluctuating clump of matter and experience that we call me or we.

We need to learn how to interact despite the mistaken thinking, despite our emotional responsive nature. It's maintaining a state of joy. Joy is the energy of being open to new information without getting attached to the information. It's about enjoying whatever it is that's happening to us or around us; not controlling anything or anyone.

Any control we imagine we do have is an illusion.
None of what we will ever do will be anything but an attempt to deny that illusion.

We are letting go of the struggle.
We are letting go of the outcomes.
We are letting go of the illusion.
We are pure joy.

Elation and Joyous Exuberance

As we enter this amazing Memorial Day weekend, many good thoughts and intense, positive feelings can be felt by many. It is always good to remember those who have fallen. We find it highly touching when people fall for a good cause or for a cause involving their own community. That's what this weekend symbolizes for us, the celebration of the greater good and the greater community.

We find that on this first big weekend of "summer", the elation and euphoria zone of others can be dangerous to deadly. When we're in the midst of pain and suffering, we always think of others. It is very easy after years of practice to generate those thoughts of what other people are enduring, what relief other people require. Getting off the me plan.

It is extremely more difficult for us to think of others when we're flying high on the wave of the present moment. We're heading somewhere; we're feeling great; we're heading toward greatness: that's at least how it feels. That wave can be beautiful and beneficial, or it can be dangerous and destructive.

Getting out of this almost drug-induced state of being can be excrutiating for most. Why must we get off the wave? Why must we care about others when things are going so amazingly for ourselves?

It's when that wave hits against the rocky shore of reality; when that wave dies off and you find yourself in the middle of the ocean, seemingly by yourself; or when you fall into the wave and nearly drown. If we look outward during these times, we can see where we're heading and what's in our way. Then, we can use that position of high energy for the benefit and well-being of others.

We call this joyous exuberance. Joyous exuberance is joy directed outward from us, for others. We're not trying to hold onto the moment, because the moment is going to escape our grasp. Have you ever tried to hold onto a wave? It's not possible.

Why is it that when we're feeling great, we only want that greatness to continue? It comes from our ignorant view that the greatness comes from what we're doing and not who we are. We have greatness within us since our life began. That greatness is this life; it is a capacity within us all.

Oftentimes through our lives, we would feel so good with someone in our life. That goodness we feel isn't from that other person, it is actually ourselves that we can feel, maybe for the first time.

It's like walking through a nature park, seeing the trees, the sky, hearing the trickle of water coming down the creek. Those sensations make us feel good because they are wholesome and natural, just like us. It reminds us of the special opportunity we've been given with this life; that special opportunity is our life.

In the midst of elation and euphoria, we'll do our best to think of others, because that greatness is infinite. It can be used to unearth the greatness in everyone we meet. And it is forever a replenishable source.